Mike's Magical Mystery Tour

3AM Aug. 4th
Sleeping by the banks of the Gilbert River tonight and on to Croyden or past tomorrow.

A lot to catch up on since my last post; rest day turned into two rest days when the Road construction workers and truck drivers advised me to not ride from Mt Surprise on the highway due to 45k of roadwork in progress. They said I would not be able to keep up with the cars they pass thru and would probably have to walk.

Julie, the woman who runs the Mt Surprise Hotel, suggested that I avoid the construction by taking a tourist train called the Savannahlander that runs from Cairns to the little town of Forsayth (pop. 43) which is 40k south of Georgetown on a quiet and mostly paved road.

I slept on that and in the end voted for the safety of the train practicing at listening and taking the advice of the people I meet.

The train was a two car affair with the engine and first car being one and the same. Seemed like a big streetcar to me. Pictures of it are already posted to the blog when I had a brief period to use a computer on Georgetown.

Riding on the train we got away from the road and deeper into the backcountry and I finally saw some kangaroos. Mostly the grey kangaroos but we saw a couple of what are called Big Reds who are larger and more aggressive.

The train left at about 12:30 and had one stop at the Ensleigh River before heading to Foesayth just after 5pm. Because it was so late I couldn't begin the ride to Georgetown and spent the night camping behind the hotel/pub in Forsayth.

Forsayth reminded me of all of the small towns in Idaho that have ranches and farmers around who come to the pub or organize the community events. This weekend was a big festival and fundraiser for them with bands and competitions and I wish I could have stayed for it, but two rest days are one too many so back on the road at sunup.

The 40k ride to Georgetown was going really well- I am stronger in the saddle now and my endurance is improving- until I hit a 15k stretch of gravel and sand where the old paving had died.

Very tricky riding the heavy bike in the softer stuff and a lot more effort. It made me really glad I invested I'm the Schwabe Mondial hybrid tires because they handled the soft stuff really well.

I took a long break in Georgetown to check email and post a quick note to my blog and put up some of the pictures using their Library computers.

Riding today has been the first day I have spooked kangaroos.
It is so cool to see them hopping along beside you on the bike.

The cattle are all over the road as well- they breed Brahmans here that are genetically superior for drought conditions and disease and they will stand in the middle of the road until I get close and scatter at the last minute running to the side. I just hope I don't run into a bull! Not much chance of that since the breeding bulls are probably tens of thousands of dollars and very well cared for.

I spent the night by the Gilbert River and it had a little water left in it so I was able to fill my water bags with water I treated and have plenty of water for dinner.

I turned in early to get an early start and the light of the full moon awoke me so I am writing this up.

Hopefully I will be able to post it in Croyden but we will see, there seems to be no Vodafone access out here and very little WiFi.